Health-care overhaul advances to the Senate

A bill that is the form and foundation of a multiyear renovation of the state's health-care system was approved Wednesday afternoon by unanimous vote and now moves on to the full Senate.

Committee review of HB133, which was approved unanimously by the House last week, was pretty much a formality on the way to becoming law. The omnibus bill outlines a general approach to trying to keep the cost of health care from eating the state economy in the next few years.

Now is the last, best chance to really make some practical, meaningful and lasting changes, Clark told committee members, noting that the health-care fix-it plans that precede HB133 were well-intentioned and crafted but lacked something this one doesn't: Pain.